Slice up this reasonable substitute for a beloved oozer

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, January 20, 2005

Edel de Cleron, a cow's milk cheese from France. Food photo styled by Traci Barr.
Event on 1/7/05 in San Francisco. Craig Lee / The Chronicle

Edel de Cleron, a cow's milk cheese from France. Food photo styled by Traci Barr.
Event on 1/7/05 in San Francisco. Craig Lee / The Chronicle

Photo: Craig Lee

Slice up this reasonable substitute for a beloved oozer

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The increased Food and Drug Administration scrutiny of imported foods in the wake of Sept. 11 has taken a toll at the cheese counter. One beneficiary, although that hardly seems the right word, is l'Edel de Cleron (lay-DELL duh clair-OHN), a pasteurized-milk version of the acclaimed Vacherin Mont d'Or from France and Switzerland. The Vacherin, made with raw milk and aged less than 60 days, can't legally be sold in this country, and the FDA has become more vigilant in keeping it out. I scored a wheel at a Bay Area cheese shop in late November, before the latest crackdown, but retailers don't expect to see it again soon.

For Vacherin lovers, l'Edel de Cleron is the next best thing. Produced in the same part of eastern France, the Franche-Comte, l'Edel de Cleron is a luscious cow's milk cheese made in two sizes: a petite round weighing about 7 ounces and a larger one weighing about 4 1/2 pounds. Both are wrapped with a strip of spruce bark around their perimeter to support the cheese, which is runny when ripe. For yet more reinforcement, the wheel goes into a lidded wooden box.

L'Edel de Cleron, sometimes called faux Vacherin, has a Brie-like bloomy rind when young. As it ripens, some tan molds may colonize the surface, although I've never seen l'Edel de Cleron look as crusty and sunken and rippled on top as a ripe Vacherin. In any case, the surface should give with gentle pressure, and you ought to be able to smell earthy, mushroomy aromas even before the cheese is unwrapped. Avoid any that smell ammoniated.

Traditionally, Vacherin is allowed to get so ripe and soft that removing the bark would invite collapse. Instead, the wheel is served whole and eaten from the center with a spoon. L'Edel de Cleron occasionally develops this molten texture, but not often -- the fault of pasteurization, I would guess. More often, it will be oozy but still sliceable. The ivory paste should be creamy, moist, spreadable and not too salty. As you approach the perimeter, the aroma becomes more woodsy, piney and resin-like due to the spruce bark. The flavor is mild and milky, certainly pleasant but a muted echo of the truffle-scented Vacherin.

Pinot Noir works with l'Edel de Cleron until it gets ultra-ripe; then an Alsatian Riesling or Pinot Gris would likely be a better match.

Next up: Fiore Sardo, aged sheep's milk cheese from Sardinia.

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